I have always found Commander to be an intensely personal experience. This may seem like an odd statement given that in an average game you’re going to have three times as many opponents as you would in a game of heads up Magic. But Commander is place where I find it easier to express something through deck construction. Sure, there might be better cards out there but these are the cards I want to play.
Because of this I have often struggled to pontificate on the format. It isn’t that I have nothing to say; years of playing against different people has shown me that I occupy a niche spot when it comes to my style. Rather it is because unlike my work on Pauper there isn’t the competitive atmosphere to serve as the backdrop. A card could see play in Commander for any number of reasons, from the art to the flavor text to the fact that someone just thought it was cool. And all of these are equally valid.
That brings us to Duskmorn: House of Horror. I have zero affection for the window dressing of the set but the mechanical core speaks to me on several levels. The impending doom of back stax pieces? Fiddly graveyard shenanigans? Cards that care about enchantments? It’s like Saved By The Bell influenced fever dream. So today I am going to talk about the cards from this set that I am excited to play. To be clear this is not every card I preordered but just the ones that I know are going to make me smile when I put them on the stack.
We’re going to start with Victor, Valgavoth’s Seneschal. This card does so many things I love in Commander. It puts cards into the graveyard, it taxes your opponent’s resources, and if you work hard enough you can bring back a monster from the dead. And you have to work for the final two modes. Victor gives you a quest and asks you to build a deck that can accomplish it. The reward is something akin to The Eldest Reborn, another card I absolute love to cast due to the choices it forces.
Victor may one day find itself at the helm of my Orzhov Enchantress deck but for now the Commander is Neva, Stalked By Nightmares. Make no mistake – Victor is absolutely going into the 99 as Neva is well suited to make sure we get the full send on the Seneschal early and often. Replenish and Retether get the job done, but so does Cleansing Meditation. Ondu Spiritdancer and Starfield of Nyx also help the cause. Neva is going to get a lot of attention after Duskmourn releases as I am also interested in finding a home for Sheltered By Ghosts, Balemurk Leech, and Sporogenic Infection in the list.
This brings us to Osseous Sticktwister. Grave Pact is one of my favorite cards of all time but I rarely play it anymore due to the miserable games it can create. I have taken a liking to Braids, Arisen Nightmare and this scarecrow provides another twist on this effect. Damage is easier to stomach than letting your opponent draw cards so I am hopeful that the Sticktwister applies just enough pressure to be ominous. I have a dedicated Delirum deck in Ishkanah, Grafwidow but I could see this finding a home in Neva or my Glissa, The Traitor deck.
Sticking on the Enchantress train we have my Hakim, Loreweaver deck. Mono Blue Auras is not a common Commander archetype but this deck is near and dear to my heart. There’s something about the world’s angriest storyteller punching you the face that fills my heart with glee. Entity Tracker is tailor made for this deck as it helps to keep the cards flowing. I am also interested in trying out Fear of Sleep Paralysis as a way to lock down creatures since it works rather nicely with Hakim’s ability to bring back multiple Auras in a single turn. The trick with Hakim is that you can activate his ability as many times as you want during your upkeep provided he has no Auras on him; the ability checks on activation, not resolution.
While Ishkanah is getting an on theme mana rock in Twitching Doll, the cards I am most excited about for my Spider Queen are The Swarmweaver and Broodspinner. Broodspinner is a nice early drop that will usually pop in the middle stages of the game for five or six tokens, which works just fine with both Beastmaster Ascension and Eldrazi Monument. The Swarmweaver is a mini-anthem as well but I am more excited about adding another Artifact Creature to the mix as a way to ensure that Ishkanah can keep bringing her brood along for the ride.
Arabella, Abandoned Doll is a messed up card. While I picked up a copy for my Caparocti, Sunborn deck, this card is going to one shot tables like nobodies business. It is not hard to build up a horde of tiny creatures and keep them alive just long enough to crunch in for lethal. You can also be excessively cruel by slapping a Grafted Exoskeleton on this Arabella and making everyone sick to their stomach. I wouldn’t play this deck at the start of the evening but if you barely have time for one more game than busting out the toxic toy might be the right call.
I love how Anathamancer can pressure players. The threat of it absolutely annihilating a life total is appealing to me as a way to end games. Sawblade Skinripper is the kind of card that is going to end games. If you can keep it alive in a deck that is focused on sacrificing anything it is going to dole out tons of damage. While I do not have a clear home for this card at the moment I can just imagine the havoc this creature is going to wreak on multiple tables.
There are more cards than these in Duskmourn that I am going to play, but these are the ones that are going to make me smile. There’s nothing wrong with being excited about Withering Torment but to me it’s just another utility spell that isn’t going to make me crack a grin like gaining six life off of Osseous Sticktwister.
I want to take a moment to thank all my Patrons. I am going to do my level best to keep providing you with the kind of content that brought you here in the first place. If you are interested in supporting my work, rewards for my Patreon start at just $1.
Can’t make a commitment to Patreon? I have a Ko-Fi where you can make a one time contribution.
Looking for another way to support my work? Click here for my TCGPlayer affiliate link. Any purchases through the link let the folks there know you like my content!
NerdtotheCore 